A woman walks past Li Ning shoes at the company's flagship store in Beijing.
Construction of Li Ning's 3.2 billion yuan sportswear manufacturing and distribution center in Jingmen, Hubei province, was set in motion Thursday.
A project of such large scale in this city of 3 million population is of particular significance at a time when thousands of migrant workers in recession-stricken coastal regions are returning home without jobs.
Zhou Songqing, deputy mayor of Jingmen, said that 20,000 to 30,000 migrant workers have returned to Jingmen in the last few months because they were no longer needed in the factories in coastal regions. Now, there is employment opportunity right at home.
Construction of the Li Ning facilities will create 20,000 to 30,000 new jobs. "Migrant workers who return home to work for Li Ning's manufacturing center will be able to purchase apartments from the government at a discount. What's more, they will be entitled to the same medical benefits as the other residents of the city. Their children will also be able to go to normal school like all other children," Zhou said.
According to Zhou, Jingmen's migrant workers mostly worked in apparel manufacturing factories in coastal areas. They have the experience Li Ning requires. Li Ning's representative said the company has already hired 1,000 people in preparation for the opening of its facilities.
The first phase of the project is expected to be completed by September 2009. Total output of the facility, when completed in 2013, is expected to reach 6 billion yuan, or 40 to 50 percent of the company's projected total production.
Li Ning chose to build such a facility in Jingmen because of its low-cost labor and location advantage. "The average wage for skilled textile workers in Jingmen is 50 percent lower than that in coastal areas," Zhou said.
"Building a manufacturing center in Jingmen marks a milestone in Li Ning's expansion into the markets in central and west China," Zhang Zhiyong, CEO of the company, said at the ceremony.
